U.S. Government / Foreign Relations - History - United States

U.S. Goverment

govinfo
Access online documents from all 3 branches of the Federal Government. Replaces FDSys, which was retired by the Government Publishing Office.
American State Papers, 1789-1838
This digital collection contains legislative and executive documents of the first fourteen U.S. Congresses and more. It is an essential complement to the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, which begins with the 15th U.S. Congress.
Century of Lawmaking...U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates 1774 - 1875
Includes early congressional debates (Annals of Congress, Register of Debates, Congressional Globe, House and Senate Journals; Bills; Resolutions; Statutes at Large, and more. Includes a lot of content not in the Serial Set. (From Library of Congress American Memory Project). See Also Citation examples.

U.S. Congressional Serial Set, 1817-1980 This link opens in a new window
Contains reports, documents and journals of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from the 15th to 96th Congresses, originally published in bound volumes. Also includeskey Executive Branch documents and thousands of browsable/searchable Serial Set Maps. Now through 1980 (almost complete). For the 1st - 14th congresses, see American State Papers. Go shortcut = go/usss

U.S. Congressional Serial Set (via govinfo)
Digitized copies of the Congressional Serial Set. Contains The House and Senate Documents and the House and Senate Reports are available from the 104th Congress (1994) to present, available freely from the U.S. Government's digital platform govinfo.

ProQuest Congressional This link opens in a new window
Index with some full-text for Congressional hearings, committee prints, reports and documents. For dates of coverage, see contents coverage chart.

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States
Online covers Hoover (1929) to Clinton. For presidents before Hoover, do an author search in MIDCAT using the president's last name, first name [author search].
Also in Print: Davis Family Library Stacks J80 A283, except FDR which is J82 D64.
American Presidency Project
Includes presidential papers, documents, proclamations, executive orders, addresses (inaugural, convention, commencement, UN, etc.), party platforms, and much more. Useful for searching for terms in everything said by a president in these publications.
End of Term Web Archive
"The End of Term Web Archive captures and saves U.S. Government websites at the end of presidential administrations. Beginning in 2008, the EOT has thus far preserved websites from administration changes in 2008, 2012 and 2016."
Papers of the War Department, 1784 - 1800
This is a work in progress. When completed it will include more than 55,000 documents.

Literature, Culture and Society in Depression Era America: Archives of the Federal Writers' Project This link opens in a new window
The Federal Writers' Project (FWP) was the most controversial and contentious program of the Work Projects Administration (WPA), an integral part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal." This bold, imaginative and wide-ranging enterprise is the key to understanding literature, culture and society in America during the Depression era.
CQ Press This link opens in a new window
Online access to Congressional Quarterly pubications: Congress and the Nation; Historic Documents; Politics in America; and five CQ Guides: Guide to Congress; Guide to the Presidency; Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court; Guide to U.S. Elections; Guide to Political Campaigns in America.

U.S. Foreign Relations Collections

Digital National Security Archive (DNSA) This link opens in a new window
A database containing over 500,000 pages of declassified documents gathered through the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The DNSA archive contains a range of policy documents including presidential memos, meeting notes, briefing papers, White House communications, email, letters, and other secret material detailing U.S.foreign and military policy since 1945. Topics include the Koreas, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Cuba, nuclear proliferation, among many others. See also smaller open access version from George Washington University.

CIA Historical Collections
Declassified, historically significant CIA documents. Wide range of collections including Bay of Pigs, Korean War, Bosnia, Warsaw Pact, Czech invasion, Camp David accords, and much more.

Archives Unbound This link opens in a new window
Archives Unbound provides multi-disciplinary, topically-focused digital collections of historical documents. It covers a broad range of topics from the Middle Ages to twentieth-century political history. Particular strengths include U.S. foreign policy; U.S. civil rights; global affairs and colonial studies; and modern history.

Foreign Relations of the United States
U.S. State Department - Document record of major policy decisions, 1861-1970s. Only Recent volumes are online (Truman +) For earlier print editions see: Main Library JX233 .A3 and Govt Docs. For editions back to 1861 see the Univ. of Wisconsin Digital Collections. Also see American State Papers for 1789-1817.

Foreign Relations Between the U.S. and Latin America and the Caribbean States, 1930-1944 This link opens in a new window
During the 1930s, U.S. relations with Latin America and the Caribbean Growing war clouds in Europe and Asia predicated the need for securing resources and allies in the Western Hemisphere. Giving up unpopular military intervention, the U.S. shifted to other methods to maintain its influence in Latin America: Pan-Americanism, support for strong local leaders, the training of national guards, economic and cultural penetration, Export-Import Bank loans, financial supervision, and political persuasion.

Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Brazil, 1945-1959
This collection comprises a portion of the State Department's Central Files relating to U.S.-Brazilian relations between 1945 and 1959.
Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and Haiti, 1945-1959
This collection documents the turbulent period that includes 1950 coup by General Paul Magloire, the 1957 elections in which Francois Duvalier (Papa Doc) was first elected on a populist platform and the beginnings of the creation of the Duvalier dynasty (1957-1986).
Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, 1945-1959
Documents in these files illuminate the Dominican Republic's relations with the U.S. for the period 1945-1959.
Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of the Dominican Republic, 1960-1963
Part of World Scholar: Latin America & the Caribbean. 'These records are the declassified diplomatic correspondence between the U.S. State Department and the embassies and consulates within the country...The collection deals with the end of the Trujillo dictatorship (1961), including the breaking of diplomatic relations in 1960. Includes discussion of Trujillo's repression and the aftermath of the Trujillo regime...'
Records of the Department of State relating to Internal Affairs of Nicaragua, 1910-1944
Davis Family Library Microfilm # 679 and # 680 (106 reels + index).
President Nixon and the Role of Intelligence in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War
CIA Freedom of Information Act collection. "Highlights the causes and consequences of US Intelligence Community’s (IC) failure to foresee the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the October War or the Yom Kippur War."
Records of the Department of State Relating to Internal Affairs of Japan
Microfilm: Davis Family Library Microfilm #867 (18 rolls, portion of 1910-1929 coverage).

Afghanistan and the U.S., 1945-1963: Records of the U.S. State Department Classified Files This link opens in a new window
Full-text digital access to these historic documents.
This collection of U.S. State Department Central Classified Files relating to internal and foreign affairs contain a wide range of materials from U.S. diplomats.
Cold War Intelligence This link opens in a new window
Formerly classified U. S. government documents on the secret war between the U. S. and the USSR, 1945-1991.

Cold War International History Project (Wilson Center Digital Archive)
Collections of archival documents on the Cold War era from the once secret archives of former communist countries. Includes China; the Soviet Union; Korean, Indochinese, and Vietnam wars; Cuba; Warsaw Pact; and much more. SCROLL past dateline to see collections.
Examples of Primary Source Material in MIDCAT
Focuses on resources for other countries but includes U.S. foreign relations materials.

Primary Sources Handouts

History Research Worksheet
Step by Step Research Worksheet & Research Log
Searching for Primary Sources - Questions to Ask
Types of primary sources and how to search for them.
Finding Primary Sources in the Library Using MIDCAT
Examples of subject headings to use and more search examples.

Related Guides

Government Documents - Middlebury Library Research Guide
Political Science - Middlebury Library Research Guide
Additional policy and legislative resources can be found on this Middlebury guide.
Legal Information - Middlebury Library Research Guide
US and international court cases, laws, and treaty resources can be found on this Middlebury library subject guide.